(Bloomberg) -- British Airways parent IAG SA tapped U.K. government-backed loans to boost liquidity, in a sign of the damage wrought by the coronavirus on even the industry’s strongest players.IAG accessed 300 million pounds ($371 million) from the Coronavirus Corporate Finance Facility in the second week of April, it said Thursday, taking state-supported funding to $1.45 billion including Spanish backing. The group, which initially signaled it wasn’t seeking aid, said it’s essentially grounded until July, when it’ll start restoring flights.Chief Executive Officer Willie Walsh said London-based IAG needs to restructure in all areas as it slims down for a tougher future. British Airways is planning to slash 12,000 jobs or 30% of the workforce, and is considering plans to close its secondary hub at London Gatwick airport.“We do not expect passenger demand to recover to the level of 2019 before 2023 at the earliest,” Walsh said. “This means group-wide restructuring is...
Twilio (TWLO) surprised investors with higher-than-expected revenue pushing shares up as much as 25% in after-hours trading as stay-at-home orders to contain the coronavirus pandemic lifted demand for cloud technology solutions.Total revenue jumped 57% to $364.9 million in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, beating analysts’ expectations by $36.59 million. Looking ahead, Twilio sees the growing sales trend continue as it forecasts a revenue range of $365 million to $370 million for the second quarter, reflecting an increase of 33% to 35% year-on-year. Analysts’ consensus was for $323.4 million.“We delivered strong first quarter revenue growth of 57% year-over-year, as customers across industries turned to Twilio’s customer engagement platform to accelerate their digital transformation efforts,” said Jeff Lawson, Twilio’s co-founder and CEO. “Our platform provides three things the world needs right now: digital engagement, software agility and cloud scale.”Diluted earnings per share in the first quarter rose to...
Beyond Meat (BYND) CEO Ethan Brown has revealed how the plant-based ‘meat’ company plans to take advantage of the coronavirus-related beef supply shortage and the corresponding rise in meat prices.“We view this as a massive opportunity for us to drive trial and win consumers over into our segment,” he told CNBC’s Mad Money.“When you look at beef, which is now at $4.10 a pound on the wholesale markets and you transfer that to retail, we have a fighting chance now as we offer value packs,” said Brown. He continued: “we’re developing those right now for the summer season.”“We’re going to look at the summer as a real opportunity for us to be relevant to the consumer as they’re looking for solutions as the meat supply has been disrupted,” Brown said. “So we’re going to take aggressive pricing over the summer to be able to make our product be much more closer...
Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc. (LYFT) surged about 15% in after-hours trading on Wednesday as its first-quarter revenue beat market estimates despite the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.Total revenue in the first quarter increased 23% to $955.7 million, which is well above the $884.7 million estimated by analysts. Its adjusted EBITDA loss narrowed to $85 million in the first three months of the year from $216 million year-on-year.“While the COVID-19 pandemic poses a formidable challenge to our business, we are prepared to weather this crisis,” said Logan Green, co-founder and CEO of Lyft. “We are responding to the pandemic with an aggressive cost reduction plan that will give us an even leaner expense structure and allow us to emerge stronger.”Active ridership base rose by 3% to 21,200, while revenue per active rider increased by 19% as stay-at-home orders tied to the coronavirus outbreak only came into effect towards the end of...
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest beer maker, forecast a "materially worse" second quarter as coronavirus restrictions curb drinking across the globe, although China was showing early signs of recovery. The brewer of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois sold 9.3% less beer and other drink than a year ago in the first three months of 2020, but this decline worsened to about a third in April as bars and restaurants closed and some production halted. The Belgium-based beer maker did say, however, there were early signs of recovery in China and South Korea as restaurants, and to a lesser extent clubs, began reopening from mid-March....
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest beer maker, forecast a "materially worse" second quarter as coronavirus restrictions curb drinking across the globe, while noting some improvement in China. The brewer of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois sold 9.3% less beer and other drink than a year ago in the first three months of 2020, but this decline worsened to about a third in April as bars and restaurants closed and some production halted. The Belgium-based beer maker did say, however, there were early signs of recovery in China and South Korea as restaurants, and to a lesser extent clubs, began reopening from mid-March....
Japan intends to approve Gilead’s (GILD) Covid-19 treatment remdesivir today, according to a live interview with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on May 6.Abe revealed that he plans to discuss with experts on May 14 how the county can begin to lift its present state of emergency. According to Bloomberg this will be based on both the rate of new infections and the capability of the overall healthcare system.On Sunday, the drugmaker said that its remdesivir Covid-19 treatment will be available to patients as early as this week. Remdesivir, a direct acting antiviral drug that inhibits viral RNA synthesis, received emergency US approval on May 1.“We continue to believe remdesivir (RDV) supply will be a fragile balance and suggest keeping watch as the pandemic continues to unfold unpredictably” commented RBC Capital analyst Brian Abrahams on May 5.He has a buy rating on the stock and $88 price target. With shares trading up 19%...
